Crossing the Line, Travelling through Time
by Sansi
Summary: Since Yugi is sick of his life in solitude a special puzzle fulfils his innermost wish. But is it really a mere wish that sends him to knight Yami or are the wheels of fate turning? YamixYugi. Cowritten with Tara.B Amy


Disclaimer: We do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! But **how** we wish we would ... however if all YamixYugi fans stick together we can try to persuade Kazuki Takahashi to sell it. Well, wishful thinking. However, we do own this plot! And for this fic Yami and Yugi are ours.

**Summary:** Since Yugi is sick of his life in solitude a special puzzle fulfils his innermost wish. But is it really a mere wish that sends him to knight Yami or are the wheels of fate turning? YamixYugi. Co-written with Tara.B Amy

Warning: AU, evil cliffies (Tara: Blame Sansi), shounen-ai/yaoi (boy loving boy). You know, all the good stuff.

Tara: This fic was all Sansi's idea.

Sansi: -blushes- Actually, I dreamed this whole story, but I couldn't remember it the next day when I wanted to write it down. But -points at Tara- she helped me to put my weird thoughts together. Now we have the whole storyline worked out . Be aware that lots of twists will occur.

Tara: This is gonna be a loooooong story.

Sansi: Enjoy!

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X  
**Crossing the Line, Travelling through Time  
By Sansi and Tara.B Amy  
Prologue  
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Yugi felt the cool surface of the window at his fingers as he leant forward to have a better look at the schoolyard outside. The sun was slowly setting down, casting shadows over the scene he watched longingly and with a hopeless weight in his chest, pressing down on him with an invisible force.

There _they_ were again. _They_ who didn't even know he existed, who had no clue of how much he wanted to be part of them. _The students_ laughed and teased each other while leaving the school ground planning to spend the evening together.

But Yugi could never have any of that. _They_ never saw him. And surely didn't want to either.

He could understand them, really. He was nobody special. A freshman at college at the age of nineteen, who was always assumed to be younger. He was awfully small, had weird hair and much too large amethyst eyes. So ... when even _he_ hated himself how could someone else like him?

Sighing audibly he let himself sink fully against the broad window, his forehead resting on it as if too heavy to be carried on its own. His blond bangs blocked his sight for a moment, causing him to raise a hand to push them back into his raven coloured hair, ruffling the crimson spikes slightly. His eyes were again glued to the group out there, soaking up every little detail. If _he _had the luck to have friends like these – or even just one friend – he would have been the luckiest person on earth. He wished for nothing more than having someone who cared about him sincerely.

"Mutou-kun?"

He gasped in shock and whirled around, not having heard the steps approaching or the door opening. Before him stood his teacher, looking equally surprised. 

"Kimoko-sensei."

"What are you still doing here?" she asked quietly, continuing on her way to the desk to collect two books. "Aren't your classes already over?."

"Yes, they are. I ... I ... just ... er ... forgot a book.." Yugi smiled slightly, but it was visibly forced. "And then I watched the sunset ... ?" the last sentence came out more as a question as a statement.

Though it was apparently convincing enough for his teacher.

"It's beautiful, isn't it? But don't you want to go out to see your friends now?" she asked quizzically. Yugi cringed inwardly. Kimoko-sensei may not have meant to hurt him and she couldn't have known that her ordinary question had the opposite effect, but to Yugi it was like the knife that had already cut deeply into his heart was twisted around cruelly.

"Um ... yes ... " He looked down to hide the distress he felt which was surely displayed in his eyes. He frantically tried to think of a suitable answer. "Yes, Kimoko-sensei. I'll go out to meet my _friends_." 

'At least I wish I was ... '

"Have fun." The teacher smiled sweetly at him and he still felt her cheerful eyes bore into his back as he left the classroom, shoulders sagged. 

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The game shop was closed and the flat was completely quiet. Yugi sighed, having already expected that. His grandfather was – once again – in Egypt attending one of the excavations there. And – once again – he hadn't said when he was going to be back.

Probably in a month or something like that. He could only guess. Those spontaneous trips of his grandfather … Sugoroku had started taking off since he was fifteen and now, four years later, Yugi simply didn't care much anymore. Or so he tried to convince himself.

Since he didn't have any friends his free time was spent with his hobby – or rather his passion: games. He adored them all. Strategy games, computer games, card games ... it was nothing he didn't have. But even though he had a wide range of different games it got boring pretty soon to play against the computer or against himself.

That was why he was presently – and had been since he was a child – obsessed with puzzles. They were made for only one person and he felt less lonely when working on them. He did not have to think about the fact that he didn't have someone to play with and it helped him to pass the time. It sounded miserable even to his own ears, but it was something he couldn't change.

The current piece he was occupied with he had gotten from his grandfather Sugoroku, who had found it in Egypt and sent it to him. Yugi thought of it as a kind of apology for his grandfather's' frequent absences. He loved it like nothing else – not because it was a present from his only relative, but because it fascinated him to no end. His urge to complete it got stronger the longer he tried, but still his progress was slow. And now, after five years ... it was almost finished. He had the feeling it wouldn't take him much longer.

He made his way to his room on the first floor and as he walked in his gaze immediately wandered over to the flashing golden item sitting on his table. He walked over to it slowly, automatically as if it was already a reflex drilled into his mind. One hand reached out to touch it, to feel the smooth and strangely warm surface. It was a box, pure gold like its content, and while sitting down he took the missing pieces of the puzzle out of it.

He stared down on them for a few seconds and then opened a drawer to take out the part he had already finished. Putting it down next to the box he sighed and reached out for one of the puzzle pieces.

Definitely it was some kind of figure, Yugi thought while trying to find the piece's destined place. It was meant to have some special form and the more he managed to set together the clearer it got.

Indulging in his former thoughts he tried out another piece, twisting and turning it to find out where it belonged. Today he didn't seem to be able to block out his depression as usual when working on the puzzle. Always before the excitement had overrode the sadness living in him as a fatal constant. But not today. He shook his head, trying to will it away. Why wouldn't it just go?

It never did, didn't it? And never would ... 

"Darn piece, now fit in already!" He bit his lip so much it hurt and frantically let the piece slide here and there, but to no avail. A ragged sob worked its way through his throat and desperately he clung to the sight before him, the puzzle, his lifeline, which slowly seemed to get blurred by a curtain of tears.

Why? Why did he have to feel so lonely? It wasn't fair.

"Darn puzzle." He mumbled, wiping the salty liquid from his eyes with the back of his hand. It didn't help much though, because there were already new tears forming in them. He couldn't hold them back.

He had been alone, so alone, for far too long. He didn't want to keep up the farce of some happy guy anymore. Who would care what he did? There was nobody who would ever notice, so why did he pretend?

The piece he had in his hand clicked into the puzzle with a faint sound, but he was too occupied with the aching blackness swirling in his mind to register his success. He wished he had just someone to share that achievement with, because ... what was that little triumph worth when there was no one to enjoy it with him? Everything was just so ...

Blank.

Yugi tried to hold back the sobs rising in his chest. All day he had been told about the importance of social interaction during his classes and he'd had to take part in those games they wanted to play – in which he had been helplessly lost. It had hurt to be left out like that.

Empty.

The word rang through his mind like a gunshot, unbearably loud and deafening everything else. The only thing left was the pain. Pain so intense that he felt numb. It seemed to tear him apart from the inside.

He noticed through a haze that the beautiful golden pieces were stained by his tears, glistering strangely as if absorbing them. It felt oddly comforting, like the puzzle wanted to try to give him some kind of hope. One after the other snapped into the puzzle with a click and through his sadness he saw that it was almost finished.

How did he come that far? Why was it suddenly so easy? He didn't know, but he felt that he couldn't stop now. The urge to see its original shape was greater than ever. He was so close now.

His wish would come true, he knew it. It was just like his grandfather had told him. The puzzle would grant him a wish. For that he had put all his effort into the task over the last five years.

But ... What would become of him if it was just a tale? A legend?

He tried not to think about that possibility. All the anguish and sorrow had turned into a twisted sort of hope, still stained by years of grief and loneliness. If it was true and the puzzle gave him what he yearned for so badly he wouldn't have to cry anymore. He wouldn't be alone. Never again.

There had to be someone out there just for him and him alone. Someone who would care for him and accept him for who he was – even if he was just a forlorn boy, abandoned by the rest of the world.

There were only three pieces left. One was different from the other two and had a strange pattern. He hadn't been able to place it until now, but a vague idea of it formed in his head. He wiped the last drying tears from his cheeks and put in the other two before taking the strange one into his hand, looking at it longingly.

This was it. The end. The final. Would his wish be granted? Was he deserving enough? Taking a deep breath and pushing all the doubts from his mind he positioned the last piece into the middle of the pyramid he had formed.

Nothing happened.

Yugi looked at the puzzle expectantly, but it was just a golden pyramid, nothing more. A necklace, an accessory. Only a piece of gold.

His heart sank along with his spirit. The tears welled back up into his eyes, running down his cheeks. His worst fear was confirmed. He had been dreaming. His wish would never come true. He had lost track of reality because he had no contact to it through other people.

A lone teardrop fell from his chin and time seemed to slow down. Yugi saw it shine brightly as it fell onto the weird patterned piece in the centre of the puzzle. He froze and before he could gather his thoughts his whole world went black. 

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Yugi opened his eyes and his vision was blurred. There was movement and some strange noise like hooves on dry earth. As his sight cleared he realised that what he saw were indeed the legs of a black horse before him.

Panicking he scrambled backwards to not be hit by the nearing hooves. He didn't get very far as a voice stopped him dead in his tracks and a sword was in his field of vision, pointing at him. He gasped.

"I would advise you to not move, little one."

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TBC

Tara: That was ... **hard** to write. I don't want to know how often we looked that chapter over ... and changed details.

Sansi: -sighs- Yeah, we never were satisfied with it.

Tara: I hope it gets easier when I'm back in Germany. We distracted each other to no end and suddenly talked about something entirely different.

Ne, Sansi?

Sansi: -cough- I don't know what gave you the idea.-cough- We hope people enjoyed our first chapter!

Tara: Yay, I'm so happy we started this!

Sansi: And now people, please, give us encouragement to start the next chapter soon!


End file.
